Watch match highlights between Alison Riske against Sabine Lisicki.

American qualifier Alison Riske defeated 2011 champion Sabine Lisicki 7-6(2), 2-6, 6-4 in the quarter-finals of the Aegon Classic in a match that carried over into two days.

Bad light stopped play with the third set poised at 2-2, leaving Riske and Lisicki to wait out an overnight delay. Riske won a tight first set on a tiebreaker before big-serving Lisicki hit back.

When play resumed the next day, serve dominated proceedings with both players first serve percentage staying over 65%. In the end it was Riske’s first break of the Lisicki serve in the final game that brought the match to a close.  

“I’ve found that a lot of my big wins have come here in Birmingham," said Riske after her win. "I'm definitely really happy to get through, there were a lot of wild things going on, we stopped for darkness because of the rain and I was just happy to pull through."

Lisicki commented: "I think it’s been a pretty good week, I’ve played some really good matches. It was tough conditions but still managed to play pretty good. I cannot wait to get to Wimbledon and play there."

Riske, who also reached the semi-finals at Edgbaston in 2010, having once again come through qualifying, will play Slovakian Daniela Hantuchova in Saturday’s second semi-final.